Stay on Target: Yet Another 1/72 FM Red 3 X-Wing

My goal is to eventually do justice to the Salzo V4 X-Wing I have sitting in a box. I built this Fine Molds 1/72nd scale kit as a way to hone my modeling skills, and as a stepping stone to getting the complex paint and weathering to look right. I learned with my previous vintage MPC AT-AT build that a good paint job can do a lot to overcome a kit's inaccuracies, and I think the same holds true here.

I made a few modifications, and a lot of mistakes, but I'm happy with the results. I've been encouraged to share my build experience here so I'll give as detailed an account of what I did as I can, though I have very few photos documenting the various stages. This is aimed more at the beginners because that's what I am. I apologize to any experts that stop by for stating the obvious!

Speaking of the experts, thanks to all those of you who have posted photos and build logs of your X-Wings. I relied heavily on the work of Guy Cowen and Monsieur Tox for inspiration and hints on technique. Guy Cowen's Red 3 is the best I've seen, and I hope to come close to his results when I build my Salzo V4.

So here we go...

I started with Biggs:



And if there's one thing he's not, it's big! I primed him with airbrushed gray Tamiya fine primer and brush painted him with Vallejo Model Color paints. When I was trying to get started with building models years ago I used Humbrol enamels, but all mine had turned to goop in storage and were ruined. I like acrylics for the ease of cleanup and because they aren't trying to kill you, but the Tamiya acrylics are really hard to brush on. I did some research, watched some tutorials online, and decided to go with the Vallejo paints.

You need to use Vallejo thinner medium, distilled water, and Vallejo retarder gel to keep things from drying too quickly. You can also mix in some of their Glaze Medium to make the paint more transparent. I didn't get too fancy with shading or anything like that because the figure is so tiny and will mostly vanish in the cockpit.

The paints take some experimenting to get used to, but I recommend them.

This is my first Fine Molds kit and it's so nice to build something where the pieces actually fit together! The parts go together well and I didn't have to use filler anywhere. I painted the cockpit with airbrushed Vallejo Model Air paints. I went with a neutral gray and used some acrylic wash and rust powders to dirty it up. I dry brushed a bit with metallic paint (Model Master gun metal and some flat aluminum IIRC) to highlight some edges and picked out details on the consoles with a fine brush. I can't wait to work on something bigger! This tiny scale is a PITA.




The only modification I made here was adding a couple hoses behind the pilot. I wrapped fine wire around a thin core and I think they help fill in an otherwise empty part of the cockpit. You may notice that I painted the yellow and black insignia on Biggs' helmet instead of using the supplied decals. That's because i'm stupid. I got into the painting and never even checked the decal sheet. Note to self: pay better attention to every step.

That's a key to making these builds go more easily, and I forget it every time. Check and recheck that you're not leaving something out or doing something in an order that will cause problems later. I still haven't learned this lesson.

And now I can finally glue some bigger parts together and make some real progress. I studied the available references a lot and decided to go with the black primer method. I tested a couple of different primers and my favorite is the Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500. I tried the Vallejo black primer, but even their Polyurethane primer is too soft. You want a tough surface that will stand up to the beating it will take once you start weathering. The Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 is lacquer based, so it's a mess to work with and you need to use good ventilation and a mask, but the results are worth it.

I decanted mine and airbrushed it, thinned about one part thinner to three parts paint. I used Mr. Leveling Thinner which has a retarding agent built into it and my results were great. A very fine tough coat that didn't obscure any details. I don't have any photos of the black painted parts, but they were black. Not much to show really.

Then it was time to pick a base color. I learned with my AT-AT build that weathering really makes things go dark quickly, so I didn't want too dark a gray. I tested a couple of colors for the X-Wing:



The colors in the test are, from top to bottom:

1. Model Master Camouflage Gray--the one many consider the standard for an X-Wing basecoat, although this is the acrylic version, not the enamel..
2. Vallejo Model Air White Gray
3. Vallejo Model Color White Gray (Confusing that the two colors have the same name and look so different, but that's the way it is.)
4. Micro Lux Reefer White--I did this so I'd have a white reference. Micro Lux is made for Micro Mark by Vallejo and is meant to duplicate the original Floquil color.

Because Red 3 is one of the darker and dirtier models, I decided to go with the Model Air White Gray. Because the 1/72nd scale kit is so small, I decided I'd better lighten it a lot for that "scale effect." Good thing I did or it would have come out way too dark. I mixed the paint with equal parts white and sprayed over the black primer:



I then used a very fine sanding sponge, something like a 3600 from a polishing kit, to sand down the basecoat. On the original models they used steel wool to take down the basecoat, but they were using tough automotive primers. I was being extra cautious. I've since experimented more and discovered that 3M Microfine sanding sponges work very well, and are easier to find in larger quantities.

I have a confession. I screwed up the first basecoat and had to strip the whole model down to the plastic. I wanted to leave some of the black showing in recesses to give the model depth, but this was a new thing for me. I mixed the basecoat too thin and it wasn't covering the black. By the time I'd sprayed enough coats to cover the black to my liking, I'd managed to fill in all the panel lines! So I stripped it and tried again. The second time around I went with about 25% thinner in the Model Air paint and it covered well in very few coats, so the fine detail of the kit was retained. What a mess.

But now I've got a basecoat I'm happy with. The sanding sponge accomplishes two things: first it gives you a distressed and weathered base to work on like ILM used. The black primer showing through on the edges of raised detail here and there will help the finished model look well worn. The sanding also means that decals will go on nicely without the need for a gloss clear coat. The detail on this model is so fine that I wanted as few coats of paint on it as possible. Sanding the matte paint gives it a semi-gloss sheen and the decals adhere to it beautifully with no silvering.

Thanks for looking, more to follow...

Is that picture in your original post the final result? If so, that is some awesome painting and weathering. It's hard to get the weathered look of an x-wing at this small of a scale. Many oversaturate the colors and contrasts between the panels. That looks like it is perfect for this scale and perfect for the look of red 3

blakeh1 said:

Is that picture in your original post the final result? If so, that is some awesome painting and weathering. It's hard to get the weathered look of an x-wing at this small of a scale. Many oversaturate the colors and contrasts between the panels. That looks like it is perfect for this scale and perfect for the look of red 3

Click to expand...

Thanks very much! Yep, that's the finished model. More pics to follow a little later in the thread. I agree that the key at this scale is to tone down the contrast. Overspraying the decals and panels is a must.

Next I applied the decals and began masking various panels. The Fine Molds decals went on very easily with the help of some Micro Sol. I didn't use all of the decals though. The blue barber poles on the guns seemed like they'd be a lot easier to do with masking tape than with the decals. The same goes for the starboard panel that surrounds the proton torpedo tube which is a multi-part decal that seemed like a nightmare.

Here are the parts masked and waiting for the blue, which is Vallejo Model Air USAF Medium Gray, which I think is a really good match to what I see in the reference photos.:



I used Tamiya masking tape for the critical edges, and then blocked off everything else with Post-It notes. At 15psi, there is very little overspray from the airbrush so you don't need to go crazy masking everything. Besides, if you look closely at the ILM models you'll see they weren't very careful about masking at all. There's overspray everywhere.

You can see little blue blobs here and there where I've used masking fluid for the paint chipping effect. I used Vallejo masking fluid which works much better than the Micro Mask, which I could never get off of anything, The Vallejo fluid dries very quickly, so you have to work it into shape quickly, but it peels off very easily. I've heard of people having trouble with the Vallejo acrylics because they can tend to peel off in sheets, but I find that if I remove the masking tape and fluid after twenty minutes to half an hour, there aren't any problems.

It's hard at this scale to get the paint chips to look right. It's easy to make them too big and it's hard to make them look truly random. The best thing to do is stare for long periods of time at the reference photos. I used the photos of the Red 3 model before it was refurbished. here's a link: http://www.modelermagic.com/?p=3713

Here are the parts all painted with the decals applied:



At this point it looks awful. The colors of the paint and the decals are way too bright and contrasty. This is why you really need to get comfortable with an airbrush, because it will take light mist coats of the base color to knock everything down to where it looks right. I'll talk in a later post in some detail about how to get good results from airbrushed glazes and misting.

One thing that does look good though, is the primer showing through here and there where the basecoat was sanded away. That's a good start to the weathering.

For those that are curious, the colors I chose are as follows: The yellow is Vallejo Model Air Gold Yellow. The green is Vallejo Model Air Pale Green. The light brown is Micro Mark Aged Concrete, which is made by Vallejo and is the same formulation as the Model Air line of paints. The darker brown is Vallejo Model Air Concrete. And the blue is Vallejo Model Air USAF Medium Gray. I'm still working on getting a good match for the original Floquil Caboose Red, but all the red on this model was taken care of with decals so i didn't have to worry much about it.

The sharp-eyed among you will notice that I painted the green stripes along the droid strip too wide. I'll fix that later.

More to follow and thanks for looking...

Here's a rough assembly to make sure everything is going to fit:



At least it's starting to look like something, even if it's dressed up like a cartoon. Now it's time for a wash.

I read that they used an acrylic wash in the ILM model shop and that they weren't shy or precious about it. I think a key thing about replicating the ILM look is that it has to look imperfect and like it was done quickly, because they were in a hurry and you can get away with murder on a movie miniature. If it's too clean and crisp, it's not going to look right.

I used pre-made acrylic washes because I'm lazy. I mixed dark gray and oily brown Vallejo acrylic wash together in roughly a fifty-fifty mix because I see a bit of warmth in the ILM wash. Then i brushed it liberally over everything, let it dry a bit, and then rubbed the parts down with an old t-shirt.



The great thing about acrylic washes is that they dry so fast. I'm guessing ILM did very little with oils since they take so long to dry.

After the wash it was time to knock down the bright colors and contrast with a misting of the basecoat.

I thinned my basecolor with equal parts Vallejo glaze medium, and then thinned that mix with an equal amount of thinner. This makes a very thin mix that sprays beautifully and has enough evenly distributed pigment to coat evenly but very translucently. I've since begun using Liquitex Airbrush Medium and it's just as effective as the Vallejo Glaze Medium and is available in much larger quantities for less money.

At this point you need to be brave and just start spraying lightly over all your hard work. I tested this several times on scrap parts before finding a method that I now have confidence in. I suggest you test it first too. At first it should look like you're hardly changing anything, but as you gradually build up a few light coats, you'll notice it starts to look less and less like a toy. If you go too far, like I did from time to time, you can just wipe the paint off before it dries with a damp cloth.

Don't worry about hairs or dust. You'll be scraping and sanding later, so they can only help at this point. I don't have photos of this step but here's the almost finished version:



Most of the weathering has already been finished at this point, so I apologize for the lack of documentation. Once the misting coat was done to my satisfaction I started weathering with airbrushed streaks done with a mix of Tamiya Smoke, which is a great transparent and warm paint (but it's glossy so I add flat base to make it matte) and Tamiya Nato Black to cut back on some of the warmth of the smoke. I thinned this mixture a lot and applied it to the model carefully mimicking what I saw in the reference photos.

In the next post I'll show more detailed photos of further weathering.

Thanks for looking.

In order to match a specific model, you've got to pay attention to the details. It's a lot harder to replicate specific randomness (if that makes any sense) than it is to make the original. I printed out dozens of color photos of Red 3 and just went to work. I used sanding sticks and a needle to add scratches, nicks, and scuffs which cover almost every surface of the model. I think it was Ralphee or Guy Cowen who wrote that you need to do something to every square centimeter of the model. Nothing should be untouched.

Here are some more detailed shots of the weathering on mine:





I fixed the green stripes which were too wide and I added colored panels here and there to match the Studio Model. I used enamel washes with a small brush to do the darker stains and smears. I also used a stiff fiberglass brush to scrape away wash from the higher points of areas like the droid strip and the very rear.

I painted the engine nozzles with dark gray accented with a bit of graphite powder and gun metal dry brushing. Even that got a very light overspray of lightened and thinned basecoat.

I missed a few things that I hope I'll get right the next time around on a bigger scale build. On Guy Cowen's Red 3 I noticed that the green stripe on his engine is blue on either end where it crosses the blue of the engines. It's hard to tell from the photos of the original, but I think he got this detail right. I don't feel like changing mine so I'll leave it.

I did this build to gain the confidence that I could do a worthy X-Wing paint and weathering job, and I feel like I can move on.

I'll post pics of the finished model next...

I forgot to mention the other modification I made. I tried to drill out the tips of the guns and I succeeded on the first three, then broke the fourth. So I decided to replace just the tips with thin brass tubing which ended up looking a lot better than the slightly cone-shaped plastic parts that are molded onto the kit. here's a detail:



Other than that everything was pretty straightforward. If anyone has any questions i'd be happy to answer them. I hope this was helpful to someone. Here are the pics of the finished model:










Thanks for taking the time to look at this.

David

Love it! The paint job defies the small scale! More threads like this, please!

SB

I'd have to say, that's probably the best Red 3 at this scale that I've seen and probably one of the best at almost any scale.

It would be hard to guess that was a 1/72 model

Fantastic!

Wow!! That really makes me want to get started on mine! Awesome job!

Mustangkevin said:

Wow!! That really makes me want to get started on mine! Awesome job!

Click to expand...

See for me it's the opposite- I see a build like this and I think- why even bother.

Beautiful!

Great build ... fun read ... and spectacular pictures

Chaim

P.S. I have a bare X-wing model from a long time ago
somewhere ... I believe it was a modelkit with 3 ships
altogether 1 X-wing, Tie-Interceptor and A-wing :wacko

Thanks very much for the kind words, everybody! I thought of a few things I forgot to mention and I'll be adding a few more details and lessons I learned in the coming days.

Thanks for sharing, don't worry about missing photos as your desciption of each phase more than makes up.....and thanks for your colour list

You did an excellent job, I have one question regarding the droid. I've only seen the Red 3 X with a gray dome and black and white stripes. That's how I painted mine, just wondering if I screwed up.

Cheers

Hammer3246 said:

You did an excellent job, I have one question regarding the droid. I've only seen the Red 3 X with a gray dome and black and white stripes. That's how I painted mine, just wondering if I screwed up.

Cheers

Click to expand...

You didn't screw up, if anything yours is the more sensible choice. They switched droids back and forth between various X-Wings, but the two most commonly seen in Red 3 are the black and white one you chose (that's the one behind Biggs in the full sized cockpit shots) and R2-D2, which must have happened after the movie was finished and they were looking for parts to finish the models for display. Someone else probably knows far more about that than I do.

I based my choice on one photo:



While building the large Red 3 that never got any screen time (The Making of ROTJ states it was intended for a shot that would track from a wide shot into a close up of the pilot, which was motorized to move around) they used the original Red 3 model as reference. In this shot the older model is damaged, but not as badly as it is in the reference shots posted at Modellermagic. And it is the only shot I found with the red Artoo unit on board, though there may be more I'm not aware of.

My thought was that this is the droid originally intended to accompany Biggs before it got lost in the shuffle. I've really got nothing to back up my assertion except a vivid imagination.

It helped that the Fine Molds kit had the red Artoo unit decals and indicates that they should go on Red 3, but really you can justify putting any of a number of droids in the back.